


Duality

by AlacritiousEidolon (p_3a)



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Meta, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3787648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p_3a/pseuds/AlacritiousEidolon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reflections on Varian Wrynn and the in-universe development of the being who would later become known as Lo'gosh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lo'gosh's Creation

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written up for my Varian RP blog. Hit me up. http://divaricated-variant.tumblr.com
> 
> For ease's sake, Lo'gosh is referred to as either Lo'gosh or Crocbait throughout this, while Varian (unqualified) usually refers to the "other personality" that Lo'gosh shares a head with. When in a separate body, he becomes Varian II. The both of them together will be referred to as "Varian as a whole".

Casually shuffles Arthas to Lo’gosh’s half of the “relationship history” section…

I always had the headcanon that they dated, but since I’ve had the chance to RP Lo’gosh and Varian a bit more, I’ve gotten it clearer in my head that it’s probably  _Lo’gosh_  that Arthas dated. Initially I assumed it had been Varian, since Lo’gosh isn’t usually capable of the communication and commitment that a romantic relationship requires; but… well.

To me, it makes sense that the split between Varian and the alter that would later be known as Lo’gosh happened before Onyxia ever put them into two bodies. After all, the spell would be easier if there were already two personalities, and no doubt Katrana got the idea from watching Varian’s already divaricated ( _I said the thing_ ) behaviour. She already knew one part of Varian’s personality was easier to deal with than the other part; so she sought to put them into two bodies, allowing her to kill one, while keeping the other as a pet and political tool.

Anyway. I have the original trauma that split the two of them as the sacking of Stormwind. Varian the Prince couldn’t cope with what was happening; he couldn’t co-exist with the death of his father, the destruction of his kingdom. So Lo’gosh was born to help him get through the night alive.

[ _Lo’gosh’s earliest memory - the sacking of Stormwind. This vision is described in Lo'gosh's internal monologue as "home"._ ]

After the sacking, things couldn’t go back to normal. So Lo’gosh couldn’t reintegrate. And he didn’t  _want_  to! He had so many things to explore - Lo’gosh is the part of Varian who explored the keep at Lordaeron, who reciprocated the friendship-forging attempts the other Prince made, who spent days at a time in the training yard pretending to fight back the orcs who’d taken his home, who impulsively agreed to kiss him in the potting sheds, who excitedly carved his initial beside Arthas’ into the tree by the chapel and who naïvely promised he’d never love another.

Varian, on the other hand - Varian was still around, and fronted moderately often. But Varian was a young boy struggling badly to cope with the loss of his  _entire life_. Arthas, zealous young Arthas, didn’t really like him. “ _You’re boring when you’re like this, Var_ ,” he’d whine, swinging his legs before slipping off the windowsill Varian had been curled up on. “ _Come get me when you feel better._ ”

So Varian fronted less and less around Arthas, and Lo’gosh more and more, until the point where just catching sight of a blond head of hair would catapault Lo’gosh to front. Adults around them assumed (depending on their perspective) that either Arthas was being a bad influence on Varian, making him hyperactive and mischievous; or that Arthas was soothing Varian’s pain, helping him forget the trauma of Stormwind by focussing on other things.

It was kind of neither of those things, and also both of them. But yeah it was Lo’gosh who dated Arthas, not Varian.


	2. Meeting Tiffin

Okay, so Lo’gosh (or, the being who would later become known as Lo’gosh) is a trauma defence alter created by the sacking of Stormwind.

So for me, this puts a  _whole new light_  on Varian-as-a-whole and Tiffin not getting along at first when they were betrothed.

Tiffin thought Varian was immature, reckless, and unfit to be a King. She didn’t like that she’d been betrothed to him, and thought him a great, war-mongering oaf who she’d like nothing to do with. Her area of the kingdom - Westfall - hadn’t been recovering well in the wake of Stormwind’s re-taking, so she maybe had a little of the resentment that would ironically later lead to her death. But she also thought Varian was a berk.

But… Varian’s a good statesman. He was raised to be a King. He knows what he’s doing. Why would Tiffin think he was terrible to begin with?

Well… who else do we know who’s immature and reckless? Who could be described as a war-mongering oaf?

Who else, at this point, associates blond hair with a friendly face - and might be aggravated when it’s just  _her_  again?

Who is  _literally a defence mechanism created to protect Varian from threats_? Threats like new people who are going to share some of his power in future due to a political marriage?

So if Tiffin met Lo’gosh first, maybe she noticed after a while - she’s a sharp, intelligent woman, after all - that the ridiculous, impulsive decisions Varian makes only ever happen when she’s around. That the arguments and frustrated gestures and storming-out happen, and then he… calms down? She meets him at dinner once and he seems pleasant enough,  _amiable,_  even. And she starts to figure out that maybe there’s more to this.

It’s not that her gentle approach somehow magically makes him a better man. It is literally just that by approaching him like a frightened animal, Lo’gosh calms. Lo’gosh comes to realise she’s not a threat. Lo’gosh comes to realise she’s not there to hurt them, or usurp them. She might even be a good friend for painfully lonely Varian; lonely Varian who lost his father, lonely Varian who can’t talk to Arthas.

Tiffin, clever and smart and diplomatic Tiffin, tames the beast who is Lo’gosh - so much so, he protects  _her_ now, as well. And she befriends the young man hiding behind him - befriends him, falls in love together with him, and has a child with him.


	3. Crocbait becomes Lo'gosh

So this part is about how the trauma alter became Lo’gosh. I’ll refer to him as Crocbait for now, because that’s what he’s named when he first appears as an independent being with his own body.

To me, Crocbait wasn’t Lo’gosh to  _start_  with. I guess it’s possible, given what I’ve said so far - it’s possible a wolf spirit would fill in when Varian dissociated during the sacking, but why would a spirit under Goldrinn’s claim be on the Eastern Kingdoms to begin with? Stormwind isn’t in Goldrinn’s dominion.

Clear answer: Crocbait  _wasn’t_  Lo’gosh, back then.

[  _The story of Lo’gosh, or Goldrinn; two names for the same demigod. For purposes of clarity, this demigod will be referred to as Goldrinn during this meta, while Lo’gosh will be used to refer to his scion._  ]

So. Well. Goldrinn is an Ancient, which is the Night Elf term for a demigod that might be referred to by Troll culture as a Loa, or by Pandaren as a Celestial. This kind of demi-god is capable of possessing, imbuing, or “riding” a priest or acolyte. He’s also, similarly, capable of producing a scion - a kind of mortal champion, who’s imbued with some of the properties and powers of the demi-god himself.

So Crocbait’s later described as a scion of Goldrinn… if he wasn’t at his creation, when could he have become as much? If Goldrinn had no reason to observe Crocbait’s creation, when  _would_  he have been empowered?

Easy. The first time he was called Lo’gosh.

As a gladiator, Crocbait was taken to the arena at Dire Maul to fight. This _is_  within Goldrinn’s dominion. In fact, Dire Maul is Goldrinn’s truest sanctuary; the ruins of the city - Eldre’thalas - he lost his physical form defending. So of course Goldrinn would be watching.

And he’s impressed with what he sees, too. The crowd aren’t, however - not at first. Even when Crocbait makes his first kill.

But then:

I don’t think mentioning Goldrinn’s name was a coincidence. People in other parts of the crowd are thinking the same thing, too.

Several people in different parts of the crowd seem to have the same idea, and that makes me think Goldrinn was purposefully invoking it. More people start shouting:

Then chanting.

It seems so  _weird_  that a crowd who were otherwise waiting to see Crocbait fail would suddenly start chanting the name of a demigod at him.

 _Unless_  Goldrinn had decided he liked Crocbait’s style, and decided, after centuries of not having one, to empower him as his scion. This is such a mana-filled moment - it seems nothing if not supernatural.

To me, it seems obvious that people didn’t  _recognise_  Crocbait as Lo’gosh during that arena match. Goldrinn inspired the idea of naming him Lo’gosh in the minds of a few of the crowd. And because so many people believed it, in Goldrinn’s inner sanctum, the place he gave up his physical form defending, the arena that closest mimics the battles he lived and died for - the closest such a demigod has to a true temple - it became true.

The current “Lo’gosh” isn’t the first Lo’gosh [where Lo’gosh is the name of Goldrinn’s scion], and he won’t be the last, either. He’s still bound by mortal lifespan, and when he dies, the power that energises him will return to Goldrinn to be put into another scion. But for now, Crocbait  _is_  Lo’gosh.


End file.
